The prestigious Stationers’ Company Warrant was awarded to Westchester for another year, in recognition of our company’s industry leading culturally responsive education (CRE) reviews. Westchester initially was granted a Warrant for offering this review service in 2022.
Julie Willis, Editorial Director and Systems Lead for Westchester Publishing Services UK, accepted the warrant during a livery lunch on March 10 in the Stationers’ Hall, located in the City of London, in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral. Julie is a Freeman in the Stationers’ Company and was given the honour of sitting at the top table next to immediate past Master of the Company Tony Marsh.
The Stationers’ Company Warrant was introduced in 2014 to recognise excellence within the industries the Company represents, namely the media, communications, publishing, printing, stationery and office products suppliers and bookselling. This year 20 new applications were received and the largest number of renewals.
The packed wood-panelled main hall – which fun fact, served as the set for the dining hall in the Harry Potter films – hosted the awards ceremony, led by chair of the warrants committee, Christine Geer. A representative from each winning company accepted a warrant certificate and the right to use the seal on their marketing materials. Nine companies were awarded warrants this year, recognising products ranging from traditional items such as hand-bound notebooks, journals, diaries and other stationeries as well as innovative products including digital sports broadcasting, new digital printing techniques, an e-commerce platform and a weekly digital newsletter for CEOs of media companies.
In their statement issuing the warrant renewal, the judges noted: “Applying the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion when creating educational content ensures that all students have educational materials to which they can relate and through which they can develop empathy for others. Westchester Education can support publishers and ed tech companies by performing Culturally Responsive Education (CRE) reviews. These reviews can help education companies ensure that their content meets the standards of inclusion and equity.”
Westchester president Deb Taylor said: “Receiving the warrant from the Stationers’ Company for our CRE process is an extraordinary honour and a testament to the dedication, innovation and excellence of our entire team. The recognition affirms our commitment to helping our clients develop education products in which readers and learners see themselves represented while providing an opportunity for teachers and students to engage more meaningfully with the content.”
Contact us to learn how our Culturally Responsive Education review offering can benefit your content and the students you serve.